Kondoing this and kondoing that - thread 4 for Marie Kondo's lifechanging magic with tidying. All welcome!

[TheSporkforeatingkyriarchy]

Here's thread 4 for all the KonMario converts, wannabes, and guests to the magic!

Thread 3

We have a wicker laundry basket in a large cupboard outside the bathroom, DH is sometimes a bit rubbish at actually putting stuff in it but generally we both do stick dirty things in there, I don't bother separating whites etc until I'm doing a wash, when the basket is full we generally have one full load of whites and one of darks with maybe a handful of delicates etc. exception is when we change sheets (every 7-10 days) when our tiny house becomes covered in laundry.

A pretty/plain fabric laundry bag is good for saving floor space, if it hangs on the bedroom door.

So impressed by everyone's momentum. Not much happening here: went back to work yesterday, but really wasn't well enough, so I'm back in bed today with chills, headache and sore throat. I'm also having to take it easy because the bin's half full with a week and a half to go before collection! If I'm up to it at the weekend, I'll get ripped into books (eek!)

Just caught up with yesterday's Woman's Hour podcast. Found many of the callers rather smug and/or sanctimonious, but I was really moved by the woman whose house burnt down - what an inspiring attitude to life! It did make me think about what I'm aiming for, and for me it's 100% personal: the way I want my house to look, the way I want to spend my time. If I ever preach to anyone else about it, I'll have lost sight of that.

Oh, and while I was still planning on going into work, I got out a neatly folded pair of socks, put them on and discovered a hole in one toe: not so joyful! They are now in the bin, and I still have plenty of others.

Ringing, I would be very surprised if the charity shop didn't want the curtains... Probably the duvet cover too.

ringing I want you linens and curtains ! They sound lovely ! which is how I got into this mess in the first place

Old bedding is great to give to animal shelters.
Usable to homeless shelters.
Certain charity shops specialise in things like curtains and bedding. Worthy asking first I guess.

My machine is usually full and on lol!
And we all get undressed upstairs so I want us to put laundry into something upstairs too.

I've trained the DC - they have a laundry basket in each room - to put dirty clothes in there. I'm trying to slowly educate them that some stuff can be reworn but don't want to undo the progress so far. Much better than their dad!
We have a basket in our room too. On his side of the bed to make it easy and yet sometimes it's still on the floor. Grr.
He also has a separate one for work shirts as they go out to be washed and ironed.

I have 3 plastic baskets for moving around washing (wet, ironing, ironed) that seems to work well.

Dh making progress in hosp but it'll be a long term stay this time so having to pace ourselves.
Kondo taking a back seat. Though I did tell my parents about it so they might give it a go. Luckily they've already passed on my stuff to me so I won't get more. I don't think anyway!

Also trying to 'manage' mil who's a fusspot and unhelpful in a crisis. Luckily Dh told her to stay at home for now so I have at least one night without house guests. (My dps have left this morning)

A moment's break, before heading upstairs to (hopefully) finish clothes!

I found the Woman's Hour broadcast quite interesting but the eco aspect was a bit heavy. Certainly, it is important, but it would have been more interesting if they had had another speaker too, with a differing point of view, eg consumerism, advertising, and the 'head clutter' that home/work clutter causes.

I was also inspired by the woman who lost everything in a fire. It takes something like that to recognise what we actually need. And the crap other things we don't!

Since retiring on a small income, I'm constantly amazed by the small, usually free, pleasures in my life.

Ringing you could donate your fabric to a morsbag pod information here

Ringing - I'm sure the charity shop will take your curtains.

Re - laundry. We have a basket in our bedroom that we stuff everything in and DD has her own in her room. She is just a baby and we often wash her clothes together with ours but she has loads more lights than us so keeping her things separate does cut down on the sorting. I'm also hoping to train her to put her washing in the basket for when she's older but at the moment she prefers pulling it all out of the basket!
I did more than I expected yesterday as the bin and recycling were emptied so I was able to chuck out stuff that I sorted at the weekend and I also got rid of some carpet offcuts on Freecycle.
We have almost done all the discarding from the loft now so I'm hoping to organise it at the weekend. We want to save DD's baby clothes in hope of another baby one day. They are currently in labeled bin bags sorted by size. As the rarely used suitcases are in the loft I'm thinking of putting the baby clothes in them so they don't get damp/dusty. Would it be best to take them out of the bags first to avoid mildew and also fold them better?

a nice article about the cognitive errors that Kondo addresses

Interesting article!
How many of you do empty your handbag every evening? I liked the idea of it when I read the book but I think I'm too worried I'll forget something in the morning. I'm not a good morning person as it is without actually having to remember stuff! As a compromise I am trying to throw out receipts, tickets etc each day instead of letting them accumulate until I can't lift my bag!

Thanks for sharing that article ItIsntJustaPhase, very interesting!

In a similar vein it occurred to me while discarding that often we keep things because we don't recognise the "sunk cost". I've been guilty in the past of not wanting to part with things because they were originally expensive and getting rid of them would be a waste of money. But that money has already been spent and holding on to an item isn't going to get it back!

Although MK comes across as a bit bonkers sometimes, her method of thanking objects for their role has been useful to me. As I discard I can learn from the original poor purchasing decision, and have resolved to only buy things in the future which bring me joy. No more impulse purchases "because it's a bargain", or buying clothes that don't make me look or feel good.

I think I may have been sucked into a cult

I Kondo'd the kitchen cupboards today. I clear them out pretty regularly but it's amazing how there are always plenty of out of date foods.

Terre it is definitely a cult.

Pointlessfan I'm not as far on in the process, but I'm not sure I'll be emptying my bag every day as it doubles as a change bag for a toddler and baby, and I really haven't got time when trying to get them out of the house to be filling it with all the stuff I need. Better to be able to grab and go. Similarly, when I arrive home I'm usually too busy yelling "sit on the step and take those muddy boots off!" rather than saying hello to my house and emptying my bag

I think this point is one of those where it is obvious MK doesn't have kids

I've gone from never emptying my handbag to once every few days which is a start!

Thanks for the article... I slightly love Tim Harford, ever since weeping with laughter at an Archers-related episode of More Or Less.

Definitely feel like I've joined a cult. Topping up paracetamol and spraying throat, while wondering if I can Kondo something, anything, without enraging The Virus.

Have added a load of linens to the pile that is destined for the charity shop.

While listening to the WH episode I just thought longingly of my own experience warrior days and how different life is now for me. And also thought, 'FTFOTTFSOF!' at all the smug people talking about never buying anything that isn't strictly necessary (obv don't have kids) and then I switched off.

Deffo a cult, am embarking on a kids back to school/post apocalypse tidy up but have found myself kondoing as I go, not in order I know but helpful in having more room to put things away. I was trying to squeeze some tea and coffee from a Christmas hamper into the cupboard when I noticed some previous hamper tea at the back so pulled it all out and have binned 6 unopened packets of various teas, all out of date by some time and loads of other junk. Also ended up doing the shelf above which contained loads of out of date chocolate I now have 4 carrier bags full of food to be binned sat by the back door!

Out of date chocolate!!!? How's that possible

There were two unopened multipack bags of mini eggs from last Easter! My favourite! But I currently have braces so can't eat that kind of thing at the minute and keeping them on the top shelf of the cupboard where they aren't in your eyeline is a fab tip for how to eat better (and also how to stop your kids snaffling it all). I have lost weight (about 2 stone) over the last couple of years by changing the way I think about food (quite similar to kondo actually I realised this morning) so I don't tend to eat too much crap anymore, unfortunately I realise now that I am still buying the same amount ........

Am-dram groups love duvet covers and curtains - they tend to be big patterns/colours so are good for stage clothes.

Also school shows/pantos love free fabric (I did 8 yrs of school panto costumes and the best dresses we made were from cheapo Primark shiny "satin" curtains!)

Ok so started this at the weekend and so far 13 bin bags and offer of £80 from music magpie down

But, what do I do about the filing cupboard full of important papers and kids 'art'. . Can I really just upload to the cloud and get rid?

Haven't been on MN in months and used to hang around the minimalist thread intermittently in hallowed company of BeCool, Fuzzpig, MissAnnersley etc for a couple of years. Is minimalist thread still going, or have you all come here instead?

I did a mini-kondo last summer - mainly on my own possessions as I think my kids are too old at 9 & 12 for me to mess with too much of their stuff - but crap has crept in and the place could do with rekondoing.

Quick question (and apols if this has been covered already): any tips from FT WOTH single parents for how to Kondo? 15 min bursts?

yy to it being a cult

We had a busy day yesterday and when I went to bed I felt guilty that I had only Kondoed DH's socks so instead of reading in bed, I emptied out my underwear and pj's drawers. They are now all neatly Kondoed.

Still building up the courage to tackle shoes and bags. I have too many and love them too much!

As for the washing basket question, we have two downstairs in the utility (in theory for lights and darks - in practise all colours mixed together). We also have one upstairs in the ensuite. I used to have one in DS' room too but realised that he rarely gets dressed in there so his clothes usually go straight into the utility baskets.

hi harriet I confess I've not been on the Minimalist thread for a while now

I (FT WOTH SP) tend to kondo in either short bursts OR when the DC are with XP for the weekend. I've had the flu and sinusitis most of Xmas/NY so haven't got anything done at all - but looking forward to the up coming childfree weekend to throw some stuff away - it does creep in ......